Local Politics
In life, either you win, or you get something to work on and we, here in Milton Ontario, have a lot of work to do.
After a very long night in a Milton Town Council meeting, I watched, with many other Palestinian advocates, as the mayor and councillors voted on a motion for Milton to:
- Call for an Arms embargo on Israel
- Call for an expansion to programs to help refugees from Gaza get to safety in Canada
- Endorse an apartheid free community pledge which calls Israel what it is, an apartheid state.
Get something to work on.
And it failed, after midnight, in the very early hours of the 4th of November 2025 on a vote of 5-4 with the mayor casting the deciding vote against. I don't think any comment is required on the demographic pattern on display here.
Firstly, I have to give so much thanks to Councillors Sameera Ali and Sarah Marshall for moving and seconding the motion, as well as Adil Khalqi and Sammy Ijaz for voting to get Milton on the right side of history. They do us Miltonians and Canadians, proud.
There were 10 delegates, 8 were physically present with 7 being from Milton. All of these were Pro-Palestine including Dr. Salman Khaled who spoke with emotion about operating on children without anaesthesia when he was in Gaza, and activist Khurram Khan who was abducted by Israel as he was on a flotilla that attempted to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid. Only the 2 virtual delegates were against the motion and from what I can tell they had no connection at all to Milton whatsoever. The local energy is completely tilted towards Palestine. Towards Justice.
And so is the momentum. This is a town where councillors weren't even able to get a motion calling for a ceasefire on the table. Let alone forcing the mayor to step in along-with the four pro genocide councillors to reveal who they truly are. It was telling that two of the genocidal councillors wanted the motion to be withdrawn completely so they wouldn't have to go on record with their disgusting politics.
Which sets us up perfectly for the next step. The next elections in Milton are in 2026. So in less than a year we'll have the chance to reward the brave and moral councillors who voted for this motion by sending them back to council, and reward those who voted against by kicking them out of their jobs. And, fingers crossed, get a new mayor as well.
But that'll only happen if we start organizing, right now. So let's do that.